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Ipad – or should that be WhyPad?

28Jan 2010

I’ve never really been into all this Apple stuff. I just don’t “get it”.

I have an ipod – it’s lovely. I really like it. But it’s basically the only product of theirs i understand, as it has a simple function – storing, ordering and playing my music collection. It does it very well, and never goes wrong – i’ve had a couple of cheaper players, and their software simply doesn’t compare. Apple produced something which looked good, there was a genuine need for, and works very well.

I’ve never seen the point of an iphone – they’re nice looking, but fairly expensive, and (i’m sure people who own them will argue) they don’t do anything more than most other similar competitors products, however i understand that there is a market for them, as they do a job, and it’s a bit like buying a new oven – some people will go for the one that does the job and cooks your food, and some will go for the one with 153 different settings, voice activated and is sleek polished steel -your meal will still be the same, but it’s more to impress your dinner guests.

Now. Apple are releasing their latest product, the Ipad – and i simply can’t get my head round what the hell anyone would want one for?

They claim it’s going to fill the gap that netbooks were aimed at, but failed to fill – the gap between smartphones and laptops. The gap where you don’t want to carry round something bulky all day just to send emails, look at photos and browse the internet, but your small screened and no-keyboard smartphone isn’t up to the job.

Firstly – is there really a gap? Is this not the reason this “gap” wasn’t filled? Of course Apple have huge teams of researchers and they surely have looked into the market and done their surveys, but I would suggest that most people that answer these surveys are wowed by the idea, but in practice, you’re still going to be carrying round the equivalent of a textbook all day long, which would really piss me off. It’s difficult to go get your shopping and perhaps have 3 or 4 beers down the boozer if you’ve got this damn book-sized thing to carry the whole time - forget it’s “only 1.5 pounds!! (about 700g)” - it’s the physical size that gets in the way, plus being scared of damaging it - not to mention you can’t put it in your pocket, so you have to keep an eye on it if you put it down anywhere in public, as someone might nick it. You may as well carry round a laptop!

And do we really need to access the internet at all times? for these prices you can have a reasonable laptop at home with far bigger than their 64GB maximum storage, and take your blackberry/N97/iphone/ etc out with you to get any vital emails while you’re on the move. Take your laptop out when you really have to be in touch with everything!

So as you can see, i don’t think there’s much use for it. Saying that though, there are some good things about it, and they’re the same things that i feel separate the ipod from other mp3 players, and the iphone from similar capability phones. The software is slick, graphically rich, and looks very easy to use. Apple clearly know their market on that front, and look like they’ve hit the mark again with the product being able to do a little of everything for everyone, from the touchscreen keyboard, the email client, the web browsing, downloadable libraries, games – everything looks very glossy and intuitive. It’s mobile internet solutions for dummies.

Perhaps that’s why i don’t get this product, as it seems to be designed for people who have no time to sit down at a laptop, who have no real need for any of the functions of this new product, but simply have a very short attention span and want everything here, now, but for only 5 minutes before they’re bored and want to do something else. Perhaps this is the market that is spoken of – it can satisfy peoples cravings to look at facebook, and it also looks good as a fashion accessory. There’s a whole swathe of people out there that are indeed just like this – we’ve all met them, they love big brother and the x-factor. They need to see what the latest news is on katie price and peter andre, and spend more time when they’re out with friends on the phone texting and chatting to other friends than they do talking to the people they’re out with. I think THIS is the demographic Apple are aiming for – and I wouldn’t be surprised if the sales pitch and marketing will manage to make quite a large number of sales – but i really don’t think this is a groundbreaking product that will still be around in even 5 years time, more like just the latest fashion accessory.